If you’re keenly interested in a deep dive on business in Asia then the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s Business School should be in your consideration set. It’s latest entering class of MBA students hail from 20 different countries, ranging from Germany to the U.S. In past years, students have worked for an impressive roster of companies, including Accenture, Citibank, Dell, Ernst & Young, General Electric, Johnson & Johnson, Nestle, Sony, and Walmart. And they’ve done their undergraduate work at places such as Boston University, the University of Southern California and the University of Rome.
This is a two-year MBA program, which boasts a Financial Times 2019 global MBA ranking of 57th place. Classes are taught in English, though there are some electives offered in Chinese. Owing to its early start in the MBA game (CUHK became the first school in China to offer a full-time MBA program in 1966), the school has a strong alumni network, especially in Hong Kong.
The average student here is 30, with six years of working experience, and an average GMAT score of 620, though the highest GMAT for a recent admit is 720. Women are well represented at CUHK, accounting for 27% of the latest entering class.
CUHK offers a pretty mainstream MBA format, with the core curriculum concentrated in the first year of study and electives in the second. Students can major in one of two areas: Finance and Technology, Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Each calendar year is divided into three regular terms and a summer term. To graduate, full-time candidates are required to complete 51 units.
It takes 16 months of full-time study to complete the program, though the school allows students to opt out of a summer internship or an exchange program and get the MBA degree in just 12 months. CUHK also offers an interesting array of dual-degree programs that allow you to get two MBAs, one from CUHK and another from one of three prominent schools, HEC Paris, Rotterdam, or the University of Texas at Austin.
Princeton Review’s surveys of the MBA students at the school says it is known for its friendly students, good social scene, good peer network and smart classrooms.
Rankings Analysis: The Chinese University of Hong Kong Business School came in at a rank of 35 on the 2012 Poets&Quants’ list of the best 50 non-U.S. MBA programs in the world. It did so on the strength of recognition from The Financial Times. In 2019, the FT rated the school’s MBA program 57th best in the world.
